Desktop virtualization offers a way to extend the benefits of virtualization by improving business agility and continuity, enabling anywhere access, improving security and compliance and integrated management—to the full desktop. There are multiple options in which virtual desktop could be deployed at an enterprise namely thick client, thin client and balance compute. The choice of deployment depends on various factors that include end user specific needs and enterprise requirements. The typical way of deployment model for virtual desktops is decided on expertise of certain individuals and is not quite systematic. Single right answer for deployment model or choice of desktop delivery option is inexistent. Each model or option has its own advantages, cost and lends itself to a particular type of user or work scenario.
As servers and PCs have proliferated, the need to more effectively manage and utilize these resources has risen to the forefront. Having said that, it cannot be concluded that virtualization is ‘the’ solution for all of end-user computational needs. There are a good number of use cases which definitely favor non-virtualized solution as-well. Hybrid solution is also a possibility for some use cases. In today's world, when an enterprise wants to evaluate viability of desktop virtualization in its environment, the enterprise has to do balancing act of meeting user's needs and enterprise goals. The user needs include flexibility in access (remote and/or offline), need to access special devices (like CD-ROM, USB, local printer), need for personalization and need to access various applications (graphic intensive, multimedia et cetera). On the other hand, enterprise goals that one needs to look at are compliance, data security, ease of management, agility, business continuity, data recovery, cost and employee satisfaction to name a few.
To meet these objectives, there are multiple options to choose from the list of available options. Each option has its cost, benefit, side effects and risks associated with it. As it turns out, it becomes quite challenging to select the right option for target state. This is because there may not be one right option to choose from and there may not be even one right option, given the as-is state of an enterprise. This assessment of as-is state of an enterprise is critical for choosing possible choices that leads to the desired target state. This assessment is rarely done systematically and solutions are provided based on the experience of select individuals. This may lead to a target state which may leave end users' unhappy and enterprise goals may remain unfulfilled.
It may be necessary to compare the results of various options as implemented in the enterprise environment. In traditional ways, it is quite difficult to exercise various “what-if” scenarios that could evaluate these choices in the context of the enterprise.
In the light of foregoing, what is required is a model solution that can assist selection of right set of alternatives from the list of available choices of virtual computing environments, based on the users' needs and enterprise goals. Such a solution should be able to correlate/map and normalize the need(s) with the available spectrum of delivery models and finally should be capable of deriving the appropriate delivery model that suits the given need.